Aussie shares look likely to rise this morning, the futures suggesting a positive start, following Wall St finishing stronger on better than expected jobs data. However investors remain cautious over the impact of the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program and weakness in European sovereign debt.
In US economic news: The Department of Labor showed that the number of people filing for initial jobless benefits dipped less than expected to 435,000 last week, the lowest figure in four months.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 10 points higher at 11,357. The S&P 500 Index closed 5 points stronger at 1,219 and the NASDAQ lifted 16 points to close at 2,579.
European stocks were lower: London’s FTSE down 58 points, Paris is down 57 and Frankfurt down 68.
To Asian markets, stocks were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 210 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 136 points and China’s Shanghai Composite down 20.
The Australian share market finished lower on Wednesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 41points lower to 4,700 and on the futures market the SPI200 is 30 points higher. Turning to currencies: At 8:50AM this morning the Aussie is buying 1.0054 US cents, 62.37 Pence Sterling, 82.78 Yen and 72.97 Euro cents.
In local economic news: Due out today the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force data for October, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey of consumer unemployment expectations and, the Melbourne Institute survey of consumer inflationary expectations.
In company news: Shares in BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) slid 1.12% to close at $44.14 on Monday. BHP has been given the green light by US regulators to proceed with drilling a water injection well in the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico, according to The Australian. Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April the US government imposed a five-month drilling moratorium in the deepwater of the Gulf. And while water injection wells were not suspended, analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co have told the paper that the approval is an encouraging sign that the government is on track to speed up the process of approving drilling permits, while applications to drill more risky exploratory and development wells are yet to receive regulatory approval. BHP Billiton reported a $15.26 billion profit in the 2010 financial year.
Shares in Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (ASX:SGT) sagged 1.19% yesterday to close at $2.50. Owner of Optus, Singtel, has revealed that Optus secured less mobile customers in the 2010 September quarter than the same time last year. However while fewer people joined Optus, the 223,000 customers that signed up in the three months to September this year take Optus’s mobile customer base to 8.9 million, which represents an 8 per cent rise over September 2009. The dual listed telecommunications company is expected to report just over a one per cent rise in net profit in its first half of the current fiscal 2011. Singapore Telecommunications reported a profit of over $3 billion for the year to 31 March 2010.
To ex-dividends: Orica is the only company going ex-dividend today with a 54 cent fully franked dividend. Coming up tomorrow is Bank of Queensland, GEO Property Group and National Australian Bank.
To commodities: The price of gold is down $US10.80 to US$1399 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is down US$2.04 to $26.86 and copper is down $0.07 at $3.97 a pound. The price of oil is up $US1.09 at $87.81 a barrel for December light crude in New York.
